The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of the main claim and can be used particularly advantageously in mail distribution within companies (xe2x80x9cin-house distributionxe2x80x9d). Distribution is carried out in accordance with the recipient addresses which are located on the items of mail. In order to detect these addresses, systems for reading addresses automatically (OCR) in the area of letter processing are known and described, for example, in DE 195 31 392. However, the reliability of detection varies sharply with the type of script and overall quality of the address information applied to the surface of the letters. In particular in the case of dispatch within companies and devices in special reusable envelopes, reading the addresses automatically is difficult, since the addresses are applied in handwritten form at various locations, and the senders do not always comply with agreed conventions. In the event of successful detection, the relevant item of mail can be sorted in accordance with any desired sorting order.
Since the detection rates of the automatic reading systems vary very greatly, in particular taking into account the difficulties outlined, it is necessary to assist said systems by various forms of manual intervention. The simplest intervention is rejecting letters which cannot be read automatically and carrying out a manual sorting method. However, the costs which arise as a result are uneconomically high with increasing working costs.
In order to avoid these disadvantages of manual sorting of mail rejected by OCR, various methods for manual coding of items of mail have been developed. All these methods use interventions by operators in order to apply barcodes to the items of mail in a manner which is consistent with the requirement to perform mechanical sorting by means of the same machines which process OCR-read and barcoded post, for example by means of online video coding systems (OVS). In an OVS, a video image of the item of mail is led in front of an operator to be coded, instead of the physical item of mail in the case of manual coding stations. The video image is shown to the operator, while the physical item of mail is held in delay sections. In these delay sections, the item of mail is normally kept in motion for a time period which is sufficient for the OVS operator to enter the necessary sorting information for the relevant image. The conventional delay sections permit a delay of between 10 and 30 seconds. The longer the delay section, the higher are the costs and the requirements for maintenance and the physical size of the plant.
These measures for manual coding, such as special video coding stations, mail running sections as delay sections in the sorting machines, are complex with regard to the required space, the outlay on apparatus and, in particular for sorting processes with a relatively small scope, for example for in-house distribution, are uneconomic.
The invention specified in claim 1 is therefore based on the object of providing a method for sorting mail which eliminates the necessity for the automatic reading of the written addresses and therefore also for the manual sorting or coding at special video coder stations, including the delay sections in the case of addresses which cannot automatically be read unambiguously.
The invention is based on the idea of using the existing workstation connections by means of e-mail systems, with the effect of avoiding the previously required automatic reading of the addressees (name and address information) which are often applied by hand, by coupling the e-mail system to the control system of the sorting machine. For this purpose, each envelope is provided with a code which can be read by humans and by machine, an envelope number, that is to say the numbering is found in numerical form and coded form, for example as a barcode on the envelope. The sender who wishes to send an item of mail or a number of items to an addressee therefore first looks for the addressee in the e-mail address file on his PC and, after he has found him, he adds the envelope number/s. When this envelope number/s is input, addressee and envelope numbers are transmitted to the sorting machine, in whose control unit a sorting plan is stored which allocates the addressee to a specific distribution point. Temporarily, the transmitted envelope number is also allocated to the distribution point by the transmission, so that when the machine-readable envelope number in the form of a barcode is read by a barcode reader belonging to the sorting machine, this item of mail can be sorted beyond all doubt to the relevant distribution point. After sorting has been carried out, but at the latest after renewed use of this envelope for dispatch and entry into the e-mail system, the allocation of the envelope to the addressee is cancelled. Using this method, fault-free sorting is possible even in the case of handwritten labeling of the envelope which is difficult to read.
Further refinements of the invention are presented in the subclaims.
In order to avoid the items of mail being xe2x80x9cstood upxe2x80x9d before being sorted (alignment in accordance with the address side) the envelope numbers are advantageously applied to both sides of the envelope.
It is also advantageous, with the entry of the envelope number and the addressee, to send an e-mail to the addressee for information that an item of mail is underway. This message can also be specifically delayed.
In a further advantageous refinement, the sender receives An e-mail for information that the item of mail has been removed from the sorting machine.